Starting gdm or xdm and kde by default in FreeBSD 7.1

After installation, by default FreeBSD gives you a nice terminal based login. I am pretty much happy with that as I have a high-res VESA console (after recompiling the kernel with VESA console support and then setting respective mode using vidcontrol).

But if you are more of a clicky-clicky type of person, you probably want it to start off directly into some graphical greeter and login manager like gdm or xdm.

Starting gdm by default

add

gdm_enable="YES"

in /etc/rc.conf

and reboot. You should get gdm after boot.One problem I could not come over with gdm is that I could not select or start KDE from it. It would always try to load gnome.FailSafe Terminal and then running startkde works, but is again not for the clicky-clicky user.

Starting xdm+kde by default

This needs minor serious work.

First, edit /etc/ttysunder #Virtual terminalschange

ttyv8 "/usr/local/bin/xdm -nodaemon" xterm off secure

to

ttyv8 "/usr/local/bin/xdm -nodaemon" xterm on secure

This should start xdm with an xterm console log on virtual tty8 (the one you get when you hit ).